A CHAPTER ON GREEN-HOUSES. 



259 



PARLOR 



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Fig. 32. — Plan of a S77iaU Green-House. 



you want it for convenience, and exactly 

 where there will be a fine vista down the 

 walk as you sit in the parlor. Now, by 

 having this house a little wider than usual, 

 with an open roof, our plants have the light 

 on all sides ; consequently, they are never 

 drawn. Besides this, instead of a single 

 walk down the front of the house, at the 

 end of which you are forced to wheel about, 

 like a grenadier, and return ; you have the 

 agreeable variety of making the entire cir- 

 cuit of the house, reaching the same spot 

 again, with something new before you at 

 every step. This walk is S^ feet wide. 

 The stage for the tall plants is a parallelo- 

 gram, in the middle of the house, c, 7 feet 

 wide ; the shelf, which borders the margin 

 of the house, d, is about 18 inches wide. 

 This will hold all the small pots, the more 

 delicate growing plants, the winter flower- 

 ing bulbs, and all those little favorites which 

 of themselves like best to be near the light, 

 and which one likes to have near the eye. 

 It is quite incredible what a number of 

 dozen of small plants this single shelf, run- 

 ning nearly all round, will hold. 



Now let us take a glance at the plan of 



Fig. 33. — Section of the Same. 



the section of the green-house, fig. 33, which 

 may be supposed to be a slice down through 

 the end of it. The sides of the house 

 are 8 feet high. They consist of a row of 

 sashes, (/) 3^ feet high, placed just below 

 the plate that supports the roof, and a wall, 

 A, on which these sashes stand. This may 

 be a wall of brick or stone ; (if of the form- 

 er, 8 inches thick is sufficient;) or it may, 

 when it is to be attached to a wooden dwell- 

 ing, be built of wood — good cedar posts 

 being set as supports 3i feet deep, and 

 lined with weather boarding on each side, 

 leaving a space of 12 inches wide, to be 

 filled very compactly with charcoal-dust, or 

 dry tan. 



At the farther end of the house is a 

 door, i. 



The roof may rise in the middle so as to 

 be from 12 to 15 feet high; (in our plan, it 

 is shown 12 feet.) It is wholly glazed, — 

 the sashes on either side sliding down in 

 the rafters, so as to admit air when neces- 

 sary. The rafters themselves to be placed 

 about 4 feet apart. Is it not a neat little 

 green-house — this structure that we have 

 conjured up before you ? It is particularly 

 light and airy ; and do you not observe that 

 the great charm about it, is that every plant 

 is within reach — always inviting attention, 

 always ready to be enjoyed ? Truly, it 

 is not like those tall houses, with stages 



